Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1887-08-25

founded on the eastern shores OF Lake
Huron by Breb9uf, Lalemand and Dan
iel and one year later missionaries pene-
trated to the Sault st. Marie. The fol-
lowing year the missions of st. Joseph,
st. Louis and st. Ignatius were estab-
lished and in l640 Raymault and Pigart
followed their French confreres TO the
West. Seven years later still, Sieur DE
LODgueville, with a small company, it
is said, had penetrated as far as the Fox
river rapids, but this Is not well estab-
lished.
THE FRENCH JEsUITs.
To the French Jesults of that early
day we owe q debt of gratitude, IL it be
only held In memory or in the merest
chronicle of their doings. The first
ship built in this country was the
French ship, ia Gavarra," built in
1916; the first vessel on the Northern
lakes was the "Griffin," built near
Niagara Falls in 1869 by Chevalier La
Sale. The franciscan Father, De La
Roche D'Alliin, first made known the
existence of petroleum In New York
and Pennsylvania; he was at Niagara
as early as 1929. The first to discover
the Onondaga salt springs in New
York State was the Jesuit father, LIE
Moyne, in 1854. The first white man
to work the copper mines in the Lake
Superior district was Giles Mazier,
about 1875, who made a monstrance out
of native ore about that time. The
Jesuits were also the first to raise wheat
in Illinois, to introduce the sugar cane
into Louisiana, to identify the Aerican
fhof nf China ond RI nnan
a new trade with that country, and
moreover, the French were the first to
offer Christian worship in all the West
ern world. r. ...- f
AS early as 1916, Priest lie Caron,
franciscan Father, the companion of
Samuel Champlain, penetrated the un-
broken wilderness to the shores of Lake
Huron; and along with leland Sagard,
labored for ten years as q missionary
among the tribes there. The purpose
of Champlain were more religious than
commercial; he estimated "the saliva
ton of soul worth more than the con-
quest of an empire" His charter
recognized the Indian convert as a citi
zen Of France and the Franciscans were
chosen to conduct his missions. But,
as elsewhere, the more active order of
Jesuits took possession of the missions,
and in 1884 Brebeuf and Daniel, and
later still, Lallemand, passed by the
way of the Ottawa to Lake Huron and
to the Sault Sainte Marie to establish
the st. Joseph, st. Ignatius and st.
Louis villages or missions of native In
dams who had been converted to
Christianity. In 1649 Raymault and
Pigart roamed with the Huron Indians
of Nipissing district in Northern Cana
da, and later, the same year, Raymault
and Jogues passed in birch canoe
around the north shore of Lake Huron
to the Sault, where they met a council
of the Chippewas. r,.ts. .r.
The pathway of these early mission
aries was fraught with danger and haz-
ard, peril and suffering. In 1641
Jogues and Bressam were captured by
the deadly Iroquois and tortured. In
l648 st. Joseph village was destroyed,
and Daniel was killed; in the next year
st. Ignatius and st. Louis were taken
and Breqeut and Lallemand were
burned by the relentless foes of the
Hurons. In 1860 Rene Mesnard was
sent out to the Far West. He
passed around the south shore of Lake
Superior and gathered church at the
Bay of Sainte Theresa, but on his way
thence to the west shore of Lake Michi-
gan he was lost in the forest near
Kewenaw Point, and his cassock and
brevifiry were found long afterward
among the Sioux.
A CHANGE OF RULERS.
Meanwhile change was made in the
Government Of the colony on the st.
Lawrence. The company of the Zone
Hundred Associates which had ruled
it since 1882 resigned its charter and
"New France" passed into the hands
of 1.-The Company of the West Indies"
In 1865 Tracy was made Viceroy; Cour-
celles, Governor and Talon, Intendant.
The duties of the Intendant included
supervision of the policy, justice and
finance of, the province. The Jesuit
missions were now taken under the
care of the new Government and
Claude Allouez was sent out the same
year to the Far West. He only ex-
pIored the west coast of the Michigan
lake. The purpose of exploring the
Mississippi sprang from Marquette
himself, who came few years later.
1t may seem strange that the French
MISSIONARIES SIlOulu VlSlb GucSe IdE
northern lands in preference to the
fertile Ohio valley. But from the hos
tility of the Iriquois, the earliest mis-
sionaries and traders were cut off from
Lake Erie and Ontario entirely. Their
route to Lake Superior and Green Bay
was from Montreal up the Ottawa river
TO Lake Nipissing and thence to Lake
Huron. Another route was established
in 17l6, however, from the head of Lake
Erie UP the Maumee; thence by a
portage to the Wabash and down that
river to the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.
Previously they were compelled to visit
the great ''Father of Waters" from the
time of the first visit of La Sale in
1879, by means of skin canoes, and had
explored only the navigable rivers
tributary to the Mississippi and the st.
Lawrence and "locking" each other or
lying close enough to afford q portage.
In this way upper Louisiana, or Illi-
nois, was reached in those early times.
At a still later date, another route was
opened from Lake Erie to Presque Isle,
over portage of fifteen miles to the
head of French creek at Waterford,
Pennsylvania, thence down that stream
to the Allegheny and so on to the Ohio
and Mississippi. Along these lines of
travel the French posts and missions
were confined. The French title to
the valley of the Mississippi rested on
the fact of its exploration BY Marquette